The Dark One and The Baby
by smellslikeforest
Summary: (Part of my Princess and The Pauper Universe so please go read that before reading this) Rumple learns once more what it's like being a father - however this time around being a father collides with his duties as the Dark One. Follow the tale of Rumple and baby Emma as the years go by within the confines of the Dark Castle (Set in series of One Shots)


**The Dark One and The Baby - The Spinning Wheel **

**For anyone who is reading this please keep in mind that this is part of my Princess and The Pauper universe and i strongly recommend you go read that before reading this or else you will be really confused! Now these are going to be a series of one shots so this will be marked as complete - however i will most likely add more as time goes. In the meantime enjoy this one shot! x**

The spinner groaned angrily as he peered into the white laced bassinette – the week old baby girl was crying hysterically, the loud shrieks echoing throughout the large room. Rumple sat down on the stool next to the spinning wheel, brining his hand to his forehead – massaging his pounding temple carefully. She had been at it for hours on end and he had tried everything he could to quiet down the red-faced babe – with no success obviously. He hadn't been around when Bae had been so young, so he didn't know much when it came to taking care of such a young baby.

"Just tell me already! What is it you want?" Rumple said as he once again peered at the baby, whose luscious green eyes floated in a pool of tears. She was punching the air with her tiny fists as saliva dribbled onto her chin. "Oh look at you." Pulling a handkerchief out of his breast pocket he quickly dabbed the drool off of Emma's chin. "You're a pretty cute baby you know, I mean you do cry a lot but you're cute so it's alright." Emma grabbed his finger tightly – pulling it forcefully towards her mouth; suckling on his digit. "Ugh baby saliva." Rumple groaned as he tried to beckon the youngling to let go of his finger. Emma held on tightly not letting go of the scaly finger – much to Rumple's dismay; who had deals to make and people to kill.

"Come on Emma darling. You have to give me my finger back. I can't be the Dark One with a baby latched onto me." Emma just looked up at him – not giving in to his demand. "Fine you want to play this game? We'll play this game then." With a snap of his fingers a baby sling loosely tied itself around his scaly form. Leaning down he carefully took Emma in his arms and placed her in the sling. Emma gargled softly as she looked around at her surroundings, her tiny fists slamming against the Dark One's chest playfully as she smiled up towards him.

"Oh you find this funny don't you sweetheart?" Rumple couldn't help but smile as he looked down upon the baby that was nestled in his arms – her wide green eyes looking around curiously. "As I said, you're lucky you're cute." A cloud of purple smoke engulfed the Dark One and baby Emma as they disappeared out of the Dark Castle.

They appeared at the edge of a clearing, which overlooked a small yet cozy looking cabin – where a fire was crackling and blazing. A man sat patiently next to the fire, poking it with a stick. "You're the Mad Hatter aren't you?" The man's back arched as he stood up – pointing his stick around looking for the source of the noise.

"And what if I am? Who the hell are you to know that?" Rumple slowly walked out from behind the tree.

"I happen to be the Dark One." The man quickly erupted in a loud fit of laughs as he spotted Rumple for the very first time. It wasn't the scaly greenish skin, nor was it the dragon hide coat and leather pants; it was the gargling baby that caused the man to laugh.

"I didn't know the Dark One had a baby." He said – becoming totally serious once again as Rumple glared at him. "Hello there darling, why aren't you a precious thing." The hatter said as he made his way towards Rumple – his hand carefully pinching the young babes cheek - who gave a toothless smile in return. "She's real precious that one. I've got a daughter of my own you know – roughly the same age as… what's her name?"

"Emma. Her names Emma." Rumple said with a sigh as he rolled his eyes at the man.

"Emma, what a lovely name. My daughter's named Grace, she's a real princess, just like this little girl over here." Emma cackled at the man as he tickled the underside of her neck.

"I'm not here to talk about babies – I'm here to talk about your hat."

"How very rude of me. Name's Jefferson and as you already knew – people call me the Mad Hatter." Taking the top hat off his head the man – Jefferson – bowed in front of the Dark One. "What is it you want with me exactly?" Jefferson asked curiously – a hint of fear glistening in his eyes.

"I heard you can openly travel between worlds and if that turns out to be true – then I'm here to strike a deal." Jefferson sighed as he rubbed his hand over his tired looking face.

"Why don't you come inside?" Rumple nodded grimly as he followed the man into the shaggy looking cabin. The cabin was small yes – but defiantly a warm place to live; which reminded Rumple of the house he had shared with Milah and his son Bae. There was a small bassinette next to the single bed near the back of the cabin. Emma started to wiggle against his chest as a soft cry filled the cabin. Jefferson quickly walked towards the baby bed – smiling widely as he looked down upon the crying baby. "It's alright Gracie, papa's here." Rumple couldn't help but smile as he looked at adoring father as he cuddled little Emma closer to him.

"So where and why is it that you need me O Dark One?" Jefferson asked as he walked towards the kitchen – where he sat down in one of the wooden chairs; Grace still nestled safely in his arms.

"I need to go to the land without magic – you see, consequences led me to lose my son long ago, and that is where he was going." Jefferson looked at Rumple, pondering the man's response.

"I'm sorry, I can't do anything for you."

"What do you mean you can't do anything for me? You can travel between realms can you not? So what's the problem?" Rumple said aggressively – slamming his fist on the table causing both baby girls to start wailing loudly.

"I told you. I can't do anything for you." Jefferson spat back as he soothingly ran his hand over Grace's head. "It's alright sweetheart."

Rumple looked down at Emma who eye's quickly filled with tears – her little mouth trembling in fear as she looked up at him – his heart breaking at the sight of babe. "I'm sorry Emma. It's ok, you don't have to cry – papa's here." He said reassuringly as he leaned down to kiss Emma's brow. "Look I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude – it's just you were one of the last chance I had to find my son."

"One of? What's the other chance?" Jefferson asked curiously. He thoroughly felt bad for the man, he didn't seem like much of a father figure – however the love and care for the young babe was quite evident behind the evil glint in his amber eyes.

"Emma. She's officially my last chance." Rumple said with a sigh as he looked down at the baby who had quieted dramatically – she was cooing slightly now, her gaze transfixed on the baby in Jefferson's arms. "She's going to be really powerful when she's older, and I'm going to need her.

"She's not your is she?" Jefferson accused as he continued to stare at Emma. Normally Rumple would have turned the man into a snail in a heartbeat, however he couldn't help but feel some sort of pull towards the man and his daughter.

"You're an observant one aren't you?" Rumple said as he sat down around the small wooden table. "You've also got a lot of guts. Many cower back in fear when they see me, you however are very different."

"You may be all powerful and all, however I can see the love in your eyes when you look at her – you have the same look I have when I look at Gracie." Jefferson said as he looked down at the little baby in his arms – who cooed softly as she drifted off once more into a peaceful sleep. "You have the look of a proud father. That's what it is."

Rumple coughed loudly – choking on his spite as he listened to the man. "Well thank you for nothing." Rumple said rudely as he got out of the chair – the legs of the chair scratching against the wooden flooring as he stood. "We shall be departing now."

"You know you can come back here anytime if you've got questions regarding parenthood." Jefferson smiled up at Rumple stretching out his hand to shake the scaly hand.

"As I said thanks for nothing." A cloud of purple smoke filled the small cabin and with that the Dark One and little Emma were off. Little Gracie looked up at the smoke excitedly – trying to grab a hold of it.

"Oh we're going to see them again Gracie, don't you worry."

**{Page Break}**

"God damn it!" Rumple screamed loudly as he appeared once again in the foyer of the Dark Castle – startling Emma awake. If the Mad Hatter couldn't help him – he rather not think of the other option; the option that his little Emma might have to cast a terrible curse over the land. He needed to find Bae – it wasn't an option at this point, however with Emma in his life now it was if his soul had been healed, partially anyways. Having a baby in the Dark Castle brought back the light in the Dark One's life – a light that had long be lost.

"I'm sorry Emma." He muttered apologetically as he looked down at the whimpering baby. "I'm obviously not fit to be a father, I messed up the first time and here I am thinking I can actually succeed the second time around. Maybe I should just bring you back to your parents, they will do a much better job then I ever will." Rumple continued as he stared at Emma who stared up right back at him. Extending her tiny hand upwards she grabbed a hold of his index finger – squeezing it as tightly as she could mutter. "Honestly you could do much better. I was a father once to a beautiful baby boy, his name was Bae, but that was years ago." He made his way towards the spinning room and carefully placed Emma back down in the bassinette. Leaning down he placed a soft kiss against the baby's warm and soft forehead. "You sleep sweetheart." He whispered against her skin. Walking away from the bassinette he made his way to the spinning wheel and sat down upon the small wooden stool – ignoring Emma's soft whimpers and cries. "It's ok Emma, papa's right here." Rumple slowly brought the dull wool to the wheel and carefully started to spin the wheel, around and around; mesmerized by the gold that pooled at his feet. The soft creaking noise of the wooden wheel echoed through the large room, cooing Emma to sleep – who stopped whimpering immediately. Rumple smiled as he continued to spin, all the while listening to the creaking of the wheel and the soft and even breathing coming from the bassinette. After a few minutes of watching the wheel spin and the gold pool he stood up and once again quietly made his way towards the bassinette and peered down – smiling down at Emma who slept soundly. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all.


End file.
